Homeless liaison for Dover students

fosters.com

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Posted Feb. 20, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Posted Feb. 20, 2013 at 12:01 AM

DOVER -- For every move a child makes within the school year the child loses six months of learning, according to current research. Lucinda McKenney, Homeless Liaison staffer for Dover Public Schools, sees this statistic played out for real every year, and when a move is prompted by homelessness, a child faces a host of additional challenges.

Over the past year, 104 Dover students were homeless and needed assistance. Currently there are 51 students identified as homeless -- a number some in the community find surprising.

“People don’t think we have a homeless problem here in Dover because they don’t see it, not like a big city, where you would see folks sleeping on park benches,” McKenney says. Even as the economy seems ready to rebound, homelessness increases as foreclosures and long-term unemployment take their toll. The past four years have hit local families hard.

Most of the students who need help are with their families, staying with one friend for a week and moving on to another the next. “We call it couch surfing and if you have children you wear out your welcome pretty fast,” says McKenney. Shelters are always full at this time of the year so it is very hard to get in.

Some students, however, are not in the care of their parents. In New Hampshire one cannot be an emancipated minor, so these teens do a very good job of not being found. These unaccompanied youth are afraid they’ll be put into youth detention or the foster care system. They do a lot of the bouncing around, some even sleeping in cars.

McKenney says the Dover High School staff do a very good job of identifying these students, sometimes just by picking up on a conversation. School nurses, secretaries, guidance staff are all great at phoning to say they know a student who may need help.

“Then we see what we can do to create that safety net around them, seeing what they need; clothing, medical services, and school supplies. We try removing any obstacles to their attending school to try to maintain a sense of normal,” McKenney says.

Some children even participate in after-school activities, which give parents additional time to work on the things they need to like job hunting or going to counseling for money management. Again the district is working with them to do what they can to help.

Another important resource is Child and Family Services. The nonprofit runs a street outreach program where they go to local parks and provide food to teens and let them know about help that is available to them. If they have a program that will work for a student McKenney will collaborate -- and often does.

Some homeless students arrive at school with just the clothes on their backs. For the past two years Liberty Mutual has donated funds that help McKenney provide critical supplies, like eyeglasses. The donations allow McKenney to be a little more creative with federal funding, which seems to shrink a little each year.

Once people know there is a problem they want to try to help, but it is complicated. The biggest challenge is housing teenagers, and limited placement options exist. Sometimes the best way for the general public to help is to donate to local food pantries and shelters like My Friend’s Place.

Children are very resilient and, according to McKenney, some are just happy to be in school, to go somewhere every day where they’ll be fed and know someone cares about them; school is unchanging and they can count on it.